The Science Fiction of Today and Days Gone By

The Obscure Sci-Fi Primer is back once again, this time looking at the shortest show we’ve ever seen, clocking in at only 6 episodes. Space Rangers was a 1993 military/action series, following a team of part-police, part-military Rangers on their adventures out of the growing colony of Fort Hope on the planet Avalon. Space Rangers was created by Pen Densham (the 90’s Outer Limits) and originally aired on CBS, right at the time where numerous other amazing scifi series got their start on other networks (or in Star Trek‘s case, no network at all!). Did Space Rangers get the short end of the stick, or was it just as bland and generic as its name implies? Let’s find out.

Life’s hard in a dystopian world, and sometimes you really just need any escape you can get. That’s why there’s no shortage of new and exciting drugs being created in these kinds of places–or at least, they always sound exciting. A lot of the time, these futuristic drug offerings aren’t quite what you’re promised, and come with some major downsides. The next time someone offers you a first hit for free, pause and think over the points below before you wind up the latest victim of a half-baked narcotics fad.

My readers, to celebrate the release of Eidolon, I’ve decided to make The Arcology free for a limited period of time. If you haven’t read it yet, this is your chance! You can pick it up for FREE this weekend from a number of retailers.

But if you’ve already bought The Arcology, never fear; I’m not the only one participating in this promo. Dozens of other ebooks from my fellow independent authors are also available, in all kinds of sci-fi and fantasy subgenres. They’re all free, almost everywhere in the world, and who knows? You might find a new favorite author who you’d never have heard of otherwise. Just click the image below, select your preferred retailer and look over the list to see what strikes your fancy. I hope The Arcology is one of them!

After months of writing and revision, Eidolon, the second book in my Lance Canela series, is now available across the web! Eidolon is where the overarching plot of the series begins—a heavier focus on the dystopian world and how it came to be that way. Check out the blurb below:

After Lance’s contact, Wyatt, is driven underground by the followers of a crusading hacker known only as Eidolon, Lance gets saddled with the unenviable task of digging up dirt on them—one made all the more intolerable as he finds himself working alongside a clickbait blogger named Becky, whose only concern is the next big controversy.
But as Lance gets to know Eidolon, his followers, and what he stands for, he becomes less and less sure that he’s on the right side. Is Wyatt taking advantage of him, or could there really be a dark secret at the heart of Eidolon’s attempts to right the world?

If you haven’t checked out The Arcology yet, no worries! I’ve got a special promotion going on that I’ll be posting about tomorrow. In the mean time, check out the links below to find a list of retailers that have Eidolon available. Both the paperback and ebook editions include a special bonus short story, Thoughts as Gray as Ash, following Lance through a more personal case as he searches for a client gone missing.

In keeping with the theme of celebrating Star Trek‘s 50th anniversary recently, I’ll be looking at the most obscure show within that universe: Star Trek: The Animated Series. You might say it’s not that obscure, to which I would point at the “subjective” part of the title. With its odd art style, kid-friendly nature, and dubious canonicity, it’s undoubtedly the least watched and least appreciated of the various Star Trek shows. But does it deserve a second look, and is it worth watching for an adult viewer today? Or should it be tossed in the discontinuity bin alongside such “gems” as Stargate Infinity? Let’s find out as I watch it for the first time.

50 years ago today, Star Trek debuted on television for the first time. I know there’s no shortage of similar articles today; but whatever the motivation behind them, it all stands as a testament to the powerful impact the show has had, on both American culture in particular and the culture of the world in general. Star Trek, more than any other series, exemplifies the hopefulness and positivity in the future, to such an extent that it’s often the bar that other creators measure their work against. It was easy to be positive in the do-anything early days of modern sci-fi, but by sticking to its guns through 5 (and soon, hopefully, 6) live action series, Star Trek proved that it meant what it said.

But why does Star Trek appeal to the people that it does, and what makes it capable of staying so popular for so long? Let’s look at this briefly, by using myself as an example. That can’t be a bad idea, right?

So your time machine has turned out to be a bust. Never fear, though; there are other ways to reach that far-off future year that you wouldn’t have lived to see otherwise. I see that you’re eyeing the cryotubes, but in the interest of full disclosure, there are a few things about cryogenic freezing that we need to talk about before you hop in. After all, this isn’t really time travel. There’s no going backwards if you’re unhappy with what you find when you get there.

Still unswayed? Allow me to lay out for you 4 of the biggest risks of cryogenic freezing, and we’ll see how determined you are to become a “human popsicle” after that.

While RetroPhaseShift’s focus is heavy on shows that didn’t make it so far, even sci-fi fans’ favorite shows, lasting several seasons, can have episodes that just never got produced, for whatever reason. Budget, practicality, or even the unfortunate demise of a character’s actor can all put the brakes on a script everyone was waiting to see. You’d think that with 7 seasons each, Star Trek‘s TNG-era spinoffs would’ve covered just about everything one could possibly want to say, and yet unproduced Star Trek episodes are definitely out there. Since we’ve already got a whole article dedicated to an undeveloped season of Enterprise episodes, I figured that this week, we’ll take a look at one episode from each of the other four shows and consider what could have been if these shows had been made.

A most unusual show appears this month as the subject of the Obscure Sci-Fi Primer in the form of Cleopatra 2525, from the same production company that brought us M.A.N.T.I.S. This 2000 series pretty much hits all the boxes on our obscure sci-fi bingo card: it was originally syndicated; it had a format change, moving from a half hour to hour-long in its second season; a campy, zany premise; low production values; abundant fanservice; and it debuted right at the tail end of the sci-fi boom that hit during the 90’s. It’s sort of got a “Charlie’s Angels after the robot apocalypse” vibe to it. We all know that shows with any one of those problems aren’t necessarily bad, but is there anything to be said for Cleopatra 2525 if it has all of them? Let’s find out.

As part of the build towards the release of The Arcology‘s sequel, Eidolon, I’ve decided to share a glimpse into the background of the world from my notes. The timeline of events in the world of Lance Canela, in spoiler-free form, is now available here. See how dystopia takes hold in this cyberpunk history and pick up a few clues towards the future releases.